Cyber Resilience

CVE-2026-21511

RCE in Microsoft Office Long Term Servicing Channel 2021 … 2024

Published
10 February 2026
Modified
11 February 2026
Patch / advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 7.5
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N
EPSS Score 0.036 89th percentile
Risk Priority 63 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2026-21511 is a high-severity Deserialization of Untrusted Data (CWE-502) vulnerability in Microsoft Office Long Term Servicing Channel. Its CVSS base score is 7.5 (High).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploit Public-Facing Application (T1190); ranked in the top 11% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to SA-11 (Developer Testing and Evaluation) and SI-10 (Information Input Validation) — see the control section below for these in your framework.

Deeper analysis AI-assisted summary

Synthesised by an AI model from the NVD description and linked references — a reading aid, not an authoritative source.

CVE-2026-21511 is a deserialization of untrusted data vulnerability (CWE-502) in Microsoft Office Outlook. Published on 2026-02-10T18:16:33.337, it carries a CVSS v3.1 base score of 7.5 (AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N). The issue enables an unauthorized attacker to perform spoofing over a network through processing untrusted data.

The vulnerability can be exploited by any unauthorized attacker with network access, requiring low attack complexity, no privileges, and no user interaction. Successful exploitation allows the attacker to achieve spoofing, with a high impact on confidentiality but no impact on integrity or availability.

Mitigation details are available in the Microsoft Security Response Center advisory at https://msrc.microsoft.com/update-guide/vulnerability/CVE-2026-21511.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

Deserialization of untrusted data in Microsoft Office Outlook allows an unauthorized attacker to perform spoofing over a network.

CWE(s)

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1190 Exploit Public-Facing Application Initial Access
Adversaries may attempt to exploit a weakness in an Internet-facing host or system to initially access a network.
T1203 Exploitation for Client Execution Execution
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in client applications to execute code.
T1210 Exploitation of Remote Services Lateral Movement
Adversaries may exploit remote services to gain unauthorized access to internal systems once inside of a network.
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2025-47994Same product: Microsoft 365 Apps
CVE-2024-30042Same product: Microsoft 365 Apps
CVE-2025-21364Same product: Microsoft 365 Apps
CVE-2023-36762Same product: Microsoft 365 Apps
CVE-2024-38018Same product: Microsoft Sharepoint Server
CVE-2026-70321Same product: Microsoft Sharepoint Server
CVE-2024-49070Same product: Microsoft Sharepoint Server
CVE-2026-20963Same product: Microsoft Sharepoint Server
CVE-2026-66805Same product: Microsoft Sharepoint Server
CVE-2025-30384Same product: Microsoft Sharepoint Server

Affected Assets

microsoft
365 apps
all versions
microsoft
office
2019
microsoft
office long term servicing channel
2021, 2024
microsoft
sharepoint server
2016, 2019 · ≤ 16.0.19127.20518
microsoft
word
2016

Mitigating Controls

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

Developer testing and evaluation can uncover deserialization flaws before deployment.

Input validation directly stops deserialization of untrusted data by ensuring inputs are valid before processing.

Engineering principles such as safe deserialization and input sanitization structurally prevent the weakness from being introduced.

Integrity verification tools can detect malformed or tampered serialized data after the fact.

Mitigating Controls (NIST CSF 2.0) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→CSF cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

PR.PS-02 none match
prevents

PR.PS-02 addresses only post-deployment updates/patching and cannot prevent introduction of unsafe deserialization code, yet it can remediate some instances when the flaw exists in outdated libraries or components.

Mitigating Controls (ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→ISO cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

finds

Security testing includes validation of deserialization routines and the use of untrusted data, reducing the likelihood that unsafe object reconstruction will be deployed.

prevents

Requiring vetted libraries, regular updates and SAST before release reduces the likelihood that deserialization logic will accept and act on attacker-controlled serialized objects.

finds

Regular scanning of third-party libraries and timely patching reduce the likelihood that unsafe deserialization vulnerabilities remain active.

none

Mandatory malware scanning of data received over networks or storage media intercepts malicious serialized payloads before they are deserialized by the target application.

References